The present invention relates generally to display systems for vehicles, and more particularly, concerns a birds-eye view display system for a vehicle operating environment for indicating the existence of and relative distances to other vehicles proximate the reference vehicle.
Injury, death and financial loss as a result of automobile accidents are some of the greatest concerns in today""s society. Improving the safety of our transportation system, including the roads and the vehicles which travel thereon, is an on-going effort. In this regard, vehicle manufacturers continue to make vehicle safety a highest priority. To this end, impressive advances have been made in various areas of technology relating to automotive collision management, avoidance, and warning systems. Numerous patents have been issued which are directed toward detecting objects such as other vehicles or roadside barriers in the environment around a moving vehicle. These include radar and optical based vehicle environment systems. Less attention, however, has been focused on communicating the nature of the surrounding vehicle environment to the vehicle operator.
Many collision avoidance-type systems have either a very simple operator warning such as an alarm or indicator, or very complex and detailed display systems within the vehicle depicting a detailed rendering of the vehicle operating environment. For example, video-based systems merely supplement the driver""s point-of-view with the video camera""s point-of-view in full detail. Similarly, GPS display systems render the reference vehicle over detailed city and street maps that are often difficult to comprehend at a glance.
Safe driving decisions can best be made with a complete understanding of the surrounding vehicle environment. Thus, it is advantageous to have knowledge regarding the existence of any vehicles proximate to the operator""s vehicle, the relationship between the operator""s vehicle and any adjacent vehicles, as well as the threat assessment posed by the relative position of adjacent vehicles, i.e., whether they are very near or whether they are rapidly approaching. Vehicle side view mirrors and rearview mirrors can provide partial understanding of the surrounding vehicle environment, but require the vehicle operator to divert his or her attention from the road and provide only a partial view of the area adjacent the vehicle. Furthermore, a glance in the mirror only gives a xe2x80x9csnapshotxe2x80x9d of the relative positions at a moment in time. The driver cannot get a dynamic picture of the situation (whether surrounding vehicles are converging or diverging from him) unless he stares at the mirrors for some time resulting in a long xe2x80x9ceyes-off-the-roadxe2x80x9d period. Thus, there exists a need for an improved display system for vehicle environment awareness.
In the present invention, the aforementioned problem is solved through the provision of an overhead view (birds-eye view) display system for a vehicle which presents, in icon form, the reference vehicle and any vehicles in the surrounding environment with indications of the relative distance to such vehicles as well as the direction of change of relative distance to such vehicles. Thus, in a very simple format, the disclosed display system communicates the vehicle operating environment to the vehicle operator quickly, completely and with minimal driver distraction.
In one embodiment, an overhead-view display system for a vehicle is provided, The display system comprises a reference vehicle indicator within an overhead field of view and at least three field of view display segments. Each display segment represents a physical region adjacent the reference vehicle and includes a first indicator adapted to display the existence of another vehicle within the region and the relative distance between the reference vehicle and the other vehicle. In another embodiment, each field of view display segment includes a second indicator adapted to represent a direction of change of relative distance between the reference vehicle and the other vehicle.
An advantage of the present invention is that it provides a display system that communicates a vehicle""s operating environment to a vehicle operator quickly, completely and with minimal driver distraction. Other advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and appended claims, and upon reference to the accompanying drawings.